Carr drops pledge to flag Assange case with Sweden

Philip Dorling

THE Foreign Affairs Minister, Bob Carr, has walked away from a written undertaking to raise the case of Julian Assange in talks with the Swedish Foreign Minister, Carl Bildt, next week.

Senator Carr's apparent decision to abandon consular advocacy for Mr Assange comes after the WikiLeaks publisher confirmed his plans to run as a Victorian Senate candidate in the federal election.

Fairfax Media has obtained a letter Senator Carr wrote to the Australian Greens senator Scott Ludlam on February 8, advising that he intended to seek further diplomatic assurances from Mr Bildt concerning the possible prosecution of Mr Assange in Sweden.

However, Senator Carr's office has now stated that Mr Assange's case will not be on agenda when the two foreign ministers met in Canberra on Wednesday. ''There are no plans to discuss Mr Assange,'' a representative for Mr Carr told AAP.

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Senator Ludlam on Thursday said he ''still sincerely hoped Foreign Minister Carr will be true to his written word and speak up on behalf of an Australian citizen''.

For the past eight months the WikiLeaks publisher has been confined to Ecuador's London embassy. He has been granted political asylum by Ecuador on the grounds that he is at risk of extradition to the US to face conspiracy or other charges arising from WikiLeaks obtaining thousands of secret reports.

British police are on guard outside the embassy, waiting to arrest Mr Assange so he can be extradited to Sweden to face questioning about sexual assault allegations. Mr Assange claims extradition to Sweden would facilitate his extradition to the US.

Senator Ludlam wrote to Senator Carr on January 14, highlighting public comments by Swedish government representatives that could prejudice Mr Assange's prospects for a fair trial in Sweden. The Prime Minister, Fredrik Reinfeldt, and Mr Bildt have both publicly attacked Mr Assange. The Health and Social Affairs Minister, Goran Hagglund, responded to Ecuador's decision last August to grant the WikiLeaks publisher asylum with a public diatribe in which he condemned Mr Assange as ''sick. A coward who dare[s] not have his case tried by a court. If he had done what he is accused of, he is a wretch''.

At that time Senator Carr said: ''Mr Hagglund's reported remarks are a matter for him.''

In response to Senator Ludlam's letter, however, the Foreign Minister had indicated his intention to take the matter up with Mr Bildt.

''The Australian government has on several occasions sought and subsequently received assurances from Swedish authorities that Mr Assange would receive due legal process in any proceedings against him in Sweden,'' Senator Carr wrote on February 8.